Subpoena

Miami Dolphins center Mike Pouncey was served a subpoena related to the Aaron Hernandez investigation less than an hour after the Dolphins' loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday. Massachusetts State Police served Pouncey with a grand jury subpoena at Gillette Stadium. Pouncey was a teammate of Hernandez at the University of Florida. Hernandez, a former Patriots tight end, is accused of murder. Authorities are also looking into Hernandez's potential involvement in interstate gun trafficking in Florida, Massachusetts and New York.

TRENTON, N.J. - A former political adviser to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday again refused to comply with a subpoena from lawmakers probing the George Washington Bridge lane closures - indicating that the matter may wind up in court. The decision from Bill Stepien follows votes by the legislative panel last week to take steps to compel responses from him and a former Christie aide, Bridget Kelly, who also has not complied with a subpoena. Both Kelly and Stepien were due to turn over documents earlier this month but invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

U.S. Rep. Jim Greenwood of Bucks County, who heads one of several committees and subcommittees investigating the Enron Corp. collapse, said Monday he will subpoena former Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lay if he doesn't agree to appear voluntarily before Greenwood's panel. Greenwood, R-8th District and chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee, said Lay is scheduled to appear before him at the end of this month. The attorney for Greenwood's panel has contacted Lay's attorney and said, "Do we need to issue you a subpoena?"

Miami Dolphins center Mike Pouncey was served a subpoena related to the Aaron Hernandez investigation less than an hour after the Dolphins' loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday. Massachusetts State Police served Pouncey with a grand jury subpoena at Gillette Stadium. Pouncey was a teammate of Hernandez at the University of Florida. Hernandez, a former Patriots tight end, is accused of murder. Authorities are also looking into Hernandez's potential involvement in interstate gun trafficking in Florida, Massachusetts and New York.

The state Crime Commission asked Commonwealth Court yesterday to enforce a subpoena that had been served on an Easton businessman the commission claims operates illegal video poker machines and has business ties to an organized crime figure. In a petition, the Crime Commission revealed it is investigating organized crime in the Lehigh Valley, focusing on illegal gambling activities of video poker vendors and other illegal activities - namely loansharking and drug trafficking. The document was filed against James S. Tersigni, part owner of J&J Amusements Inc. of Easton.

The Call-Chronicle Newspapers claimed yesterday that a request for unpublished photos a reporter took of a fatal accident violated its constitutional right to gather news. The publishing company contended in addition that the state Shield Law protects it from furnishing the photographs to a defendant in a Northampton County lawsuit. Northampton County Judge Michael Franciosa set Aug. 1 for a hearing on the Call-Chronicle's bid to have the request thrown out. General Motors Corp.

The leaders wanted to resist. The followers didn't. The leaders tried to look after the House as an institution. The ordinary members preferred to look after their own careers. That is the quickest explanation of what happened when the House voted Wednesday night to comply with a subpoena from the Justice Department, asking for records of every check written on the now closed House bank between July 1988 and October 1991. Indeed, dozens of members who voted to comply with the subpoena regarded it as an improper "fishing expedition" but one they could not effectively resist, and only 131 Democrats stood up and voted to challenge it in court.

The attorney for a couple seeking to adopt a child whose mother was interviewed for a story in The Morning Call dropped her bid yesterday to subpoena the reporter who wrote the story. April Cordts had subpoenaed reporter Katherine Reinhard to bring with her to court her notes and records pertaining to her story, "Mothers Behind Bars," which was published May 16. Cordts represents a couple who wish to adopt the child of one of the inmates interviewed by Reinhard for the story. Newspaper attorney Malcolm J. Gross said in a brief supporting the quashing of the subpoena that Reinhard was to be called primarily to verify the accuracy of certain quotes attributed to the inmate in order to impeach the woman's credibility and demonstrate her lack of interest in her children.

A 27-year-old Coaldale man told a judge yesterday that he failed to appear at the drug trial of his former girlfriend because he didn't want their son sent to a home. The judge didn't buy the testimony and sentenced the former Marine to 30 days in Carbon County Prison. James Faust of 87 Miner St. was subpoenaed to appear at the April 25 trial of Geraldine Kopack, 29, of Summit Hill, as the star witness for the prosecution. A jury found Kopack innocent of four drug charges after deliberating for more than two hours.

The dispute between United Steelworkers Local 3317 and 61 of its members at the New Jersey Zinc Co. of Palmerton remains in limbo since Carbon County Judge John P. Lavelle has not received a letter from the union's lawyer explaining the laws governing the subpoena of a company's pay records. Local 3317 is suing 61 union members for not paying fines levied when they crossed the picket lines during a 1984 strike. Aaron Matte, the union's lawyer, has said he will seek a subpoena from Lavelle because the New Jersey Zinc Co. refused to release pay records of the 61 workers.

The government has ways to make you talk, as writer James Risen was reminded when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ordered him last week to testify against the Central Intelligence Agency source who told him about covert operations regarding Iran's nuclear facilities. The court was correct that, as it stands, federal law contains no shield for reporters of the kind that exists in 49 states and the District of Columbia. But it should — not because journalists are a special category, but because anyone who publicizes information in the public interest is fulfilling the true purpose of the First Amendment.

For nearly a year after authorities asked Penn State administrators for files on Jerry Sandusky, the three men charged Thursday with covering up his crimes had denied any such documents existed, according to a grand jury presentment. Instead of turning over the papers, emails and other information when the state attorney general's office issued a subpoena in December 2010, former President Graham Spanier, retired Vice President of Business and Finance Gary Schultz and Athletic Director Tim Curley told their lawyer they searched and found nothing, according to the presentment, which was released Thursday.

— The judge in Jerry Sandusky's child sex-abuse case said he would go through subpoenas with a marker as he determines which documents school districts, state agencies and other organizations must hand over to the former Penn State football coach before trial. In a 11/2-hour hearing Wednesday, attorneys for 11 organizations argued that the subpoenas Sandusky attorney Joe Amendola issued last month are overly broad and in many cases the information Sandusky seeks is privileged or confidential.

The state Attorney General's Office has filed a motion seeking a court order to stop what it says are improper subpoenas being issued by Jerry Sandusky's defense attorney in a "fishing expedition" for evidence. The subpoenas, issued on pre-printed forms provided by the Centre County Court, misappropriate the authority of the court and are a effort to circumvent Judge John M. Cleland's rulings on evidence and discovery in Sandusky's child sexual abuse case, the attorney general argued.

Penn State President Rodney Erickson received a subpoena to testify before a Pennsylvania grand jury investigating allegations of child sexual abuse by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. Erickson received the subpoena last week, although a university spokeswoman did not know the date. His attorney is negotiating with the state attorney general's office the terms of the subpoena, including when Erickson will testify. The announcement follows statements earlier this month that the grand jury investigation is ongoing.

William Royer has made his decision. He won't force Lower Macungie Township commissioners to testify in the ongoing challenge of controversial zoning changes. Royer, chairman of the Zoning Hearing Board, said today that he has decided he won't issue subpoenas for any of the five commissioners, at least for the time being. Royer said that while he "strongly believes" the public would benefit from hearing from the commissioners," he thinks any testimony that may be solicited would be protected by legislative privilege, which means the commissioners would likely decline to answer questions.

A dispute between New Jersey Zinc Co. of Palmerton and the Local 3317 of the United Steelworkers union over pay records is over, according to union lawyer Aaron Matte. "It's my understanding that the issue has been resolved," Matte said yesterday. Matte said that he will ask District Justice Bruce Appleton of Palmerton tomorrow to subpoena 61 union employees' pay records between Aug. 6 and Sept. 6 of 1984. This is the second time that Matte has asked Appleton for a subpoena. He asked Appleton for a subpoena last month after the company refused to turn over the pay records.

A special counsel hired by the Senate to investigate the disclosure of Professor Anita F. Hill's sexual-harassment accusations against Judge Clarence Thomas is preparing to subpoena the two journalists who first reported those accusations. The move raises the possibility of an eventual constitutional confrontation. Peter E. Fleming, a New York lawyer who is in charge of the Senate's inquiry, has told lawyers for the reporters, Nina Totenberg of National Public Radio and Timothy Phelps of Newsday, that he will probably subpoena them to appear before him on Feb. 5. They are expected to be asked then to identify those who helped them obtain copies of Professor Hill's statements, which had been given to the Senate Judiciary Committee but not made public.

Some residents in Lower Macungie want their commissioners put on the hot seat to answer for a deal with a wealthy landowner that will effectively turn farmland into homes and warehouses. And they've asked the one person who can make that happen — Zoning Hearing Board Chairman William Royer — to take the unusual step of issuing subpoenas to compel commissioners to explain themselves. A handful of township residents asked Royer on Thursday night to call members of the Board of Commissioners to testify during an ongoing challenge of 2010 zoning changes that benefit David Jaindl's plans to make use of 600-plus acres of farmland for development in the western part of Lower Macungie.